Yorkshire Marathon - Week 1: 4/8/14

M  10.11 miles (7:11mm), 4.15 miles (8:00mm)
T  10.27 miles (6:59mm), 4.44 miles (7:57mm)
W  12.38 miles including Progressive 8 mile tempo (6:14mm), 4.07 miles (7:50mm)
T 10.09 miles (6:53mm)
F  8.43 miles (6:54mm)
S 20.22 miles progressive long run (6:38mm)
S  11.16 miles (6:46mm)

Total 95.3miles (6:55mm)
Aerobic Efficiency 1059 beats per mile average


So, it's been a while since I wrote a blog. I thought it might be worthwhile in starting it up again for a few weeks as I build towards the Yorkshire Marathon in October. There is a possibility that I may not end up running the race due to the fact that my wife, Hania is expecting our second baby just the week before the race. I was not planning on an Autumn marathon this year as I decided a couple of years ago that I really only fancied training for one per year, such is the commitment required and also the focus that one needs to have on it. I also came to this conclusion as I was keen to get quicker over the shorter distances but the reality is that the shorter distances just don't inspire me as much. I find training for them much harder mentally and I tend to have a catastrophic loss of mojo regarding 5ks and 10ks, etc. Having dabbled at a few over the summer, I just don't seem to run well in them when I'm not training for a marathon. I guess what the whole thing has taught me is that I AM A MARATHONER. I need to be comfortable with this and do my best to improve at this event as much as possible as that is where my relative strength lies, without a doubt.

I ran Edinburgh Marathon earlier this year and snuck a PB of 2:28:32 which I was really pleased with given the weather on the day. There was a massive headwind for the first 17.5 or so miles and I was also injured in the lead up to it with pelvis, glute and hamstring problems. I suspect on a stiller day that performance would have been a couple of minutes quicker. I ran this as a back up having been focused on Manchester but coming down with a quad injury just two days before the race which may or may not have been connected to the other issues I have been struggling with. Injury wise, I don't feel I am completely fixed, I get sciatic pain down the back of my left leg and my glutes are always causing me bother but I can run that is the main thing. After about 12 sessions of physio I am still not right so I am just focusing on what I can do which is trying all sorts of strengthening exercise in the hope that it'll get better eventually.

Anyway, the plan for this marathon is to really focus on getting decent length runs in most days with a couple of key sessions per week. The long run, where I will be building up to 30 miles and also a midweek marathon specific session which I have basically robbed off Steve Way, who is a bit of a Lege. The workouts look really testing but just the sort of thing that brings me on a lot. i.e. working around and slightly above marathon pace intensity but with a decent chunk of mileage in the sessions. It is likely they will be up to 18 miles in total.

So this first week of 10 having done a 65 mile week last week was just about plodding the miles out, getting my first 20 miler done and a decent progressive tempo run in. All went well and although the Wednesday session was tough ( I really had to concentrate on the last couple of miles to keep the pace increasing!) and the 20 miler on Saturday felt really hard towards the end (uphill and into a headwind) it was a successful week. In fact I did an 11 miler this morning which felt really comfortable and there wasn't much residual tiredness in my legs from the weeks training. I am even trying much more consciously to recover properly from my runs in terms of eating shortly after finishing a run, even having a milk shake in the hope that a dose of protein will help the legs feel better for the next session. Although it's only early days in this build up, I genuinely think I can feel the difference!

One thing that I have occasionally kept an eye on before is how many beats per mile my heart rate goes overt the course of a run. Having looked at my figures in the buildup to previous races I know that as I get down towards and below 1000 beats per mile I am starting to get in pretty good shape. In fact just before Manchester I was averaging about 970 beats per mile which tells me I was probably in brilliant shape had it not been for the annoying injury that came as quickly as it went! I am going to track it as an average as each week progresses in the hope that it'll show my fitness improving as I approach race day. Even this week I have seen a gradual improvement and about a 20 beat drop from last week alone.

<iframe width='465' height='548' frameborder='0' src='http://connect.garmin.com:80/activity/embed/507037969'></iframe>